Juvenile student among six Hongkongers arrested over attack on lawyer

A 15-year-old student was among six Hongkongers arrested on Tuesday over an attack on a lawyer during last month’s demonstration against the national security law, police said on Tuesday.

The six men, aged 15 to 32, were identified after police investigators pored over surveillance camera footage to gather evidence, Superintendent Raymond Chou of the Narcotics Bureau said.

On May 24, lawyer Chan Tsz-chin, a partner at Cheung and Liu Solicitors, was beaten up after he argued with protesters as they created roadblocks on Leighton Road in Causeway Bay.

Video clips circulated on social media showed the 40-year-old victim was punched, kicked and struck with hard objects such as umbrellas.

Chou said at least 20 protesters were involved in the attack. He said the lawyer was injured in the head and torso and received more than 20 stitches.

Following the attack, Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah’s office said she felt “shocked and distressed” learning about the attack from news footage, adding that the law did not permit anyone to resort to violence.

After identifying some of the attackers, officers from the Narcotics Bureau raided several locations on Tuesday morning and arrested the six men on suspicion of wounding and unlawful assembly.

Hong Kong lawyer attacked by black-clad mob near protests against security law

During the raids, police seized a retractable baton and clothes the suspects wore at the time of the attack.

Chou said the six men included the 15-year-old student, delivery workers and some jobless people. Some of the suspects knew each other.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the six men were being held for questioning and none of them had been charged.

Chou said an investigation was continuing.

He said police would never tolerate any act of violence and officers would spare no efforts to bring those involved to justice.